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0 answers
39 views

Absorption and emission spectrum terminology

Hi everyone recently i was looking for laser crystals and since I am an autodidact i was confused by the terminology and units of the optics domain. And specialy by the absorption and emission ...
Tintin's user avatar
  • 1
3 votes
1 answer
83 views

Why is the term 'Accuracy of 1 part in $x$' used?

My question stems from how we measure the accuracy of Caesium clocks. Most Caesium clocks are said to have an accuracy of '$1$ part in $10^{14}$.' I understand that the terminology means to convey ...
Smarika Singh's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
121 views

Unit in unit area

Pressure is defined as force per unit area. What is the meaning of unit and why is the term unit used with area?
Nandy's user avatar
  • 31
-1 votes
1 answer
360 views

Per unit quantity meaning

What does per unit quantity mean? like distance covered per unit time? Or mass per unit volume?
Nasir Raza's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
87 views

Why is excitation potential taken in $\rm eV$ when $\rm eV$ is actually the unit of energy and not potential difference? Shouldn’t it be Volt?

The unit of excitation potential should be Volt and not $\rm eV$. My book says it’s $\rm eV$.
Eman H's user avatar
  • 1
0 votes
2 answers
100 views

What do you call the power of a unit of measure?

Regarding units of measurement, it's possible to have powers (e.g. the meter, the square meter, the cubic meter). Is this called the “power” of the unit? Order? Dimension ("dimension" is ...
Rick's user avatar
  • 101
0 votes
0 answers
53 views

Name for the inverse of the heating/cooling rate?

I would call the average change in temperature of a body per unit time "cooling rate" or "heating rate" depending on the sign. Is there a name for the inverse of this quantity, i.e....
Mister Mak's user avatar
-2 votes
1 answer
249 views

Why are people using 'lightyear' as a measurement of time? [closed]

I came across 2 people in an open forum, who are college students, who that agree using the term 'lightyear' as a measurement of time is correct. Their context was "This country's technology is ...
Snipey Snipes's user avatar
0 votes
4 answers
362 views

Why do we say "pound feet of torque" when stating torque?

This is kind of a grammar question, but when stating a measurement, like distance, force, time, or volume, we generally say 5 gallons, 50 lbs, or 10 miles etc. It is understood we are talking about ...
Kevin C Speltz's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
6k views

What does a.u. mean as unit (not astronomical unit) in graphs in physics publications?

For example, in this paper (also arXiv), it uses a.u. as the unit in multiple graphs for the quantiy $\frac{dI}{dV}$, for example in Figure 3. I am suspecting a.u. means "appropriate unit," ...
Michael's user avatar
  • 195
-1 votes
4 answers
320 views

What is the constant in $F=kma$ called?

I understand fully where the constant comes from and why it is defined as $k=1\ \text{N}\ \text{kg}^{-1}\ \text{m}^{-1}\ \text{s}^2$ But does it have an official name? If I were to give it a name I ...
Kantura's user avatar
  • 1,329
0 votes
1 answer
354 views

Question about Schrodinger equation in atomic units vs in SI units

In SI units, we see that the Schrodinger equation can be written as \begin{align} i\hbar\partial_t \Psi= \left(-\frac{\hbar^2}{2m_e}\Delta_x+V(x)\right)\Psi \end{align} whereas, in atomic units, we ...
Jacky Chong's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
4k views

What is the difference between degree celsius and celsius degree? [duplicate]

It seems similar but can you guys please answer it that what is a specific difference between degree celsius and celsius degree?
Rhythm's user avatar
  • 1
0 votes
1 answer
99 views

Confusion on Centigrade/Celsius Scale

There came the centigrade scale. The issue was that many solid/liquid thermometric substances didn't respond to temperature linearly so different thermometers produced different results. This was ...
Sal_99's user avatar
  • 423
1 vote
1 answer
104 views

Name of measurement expressed as the sum of different units

In a paper I'm writing, I want to make a comment about errors in an old paper made when doing arithmetic with measurements expressed as as the sum of quantities with two or more different units, for ...
richard's user avatar
  • 113

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